open sea

Chapter 317 Treasure Ship
The fleet sailed faster than Chen Mu imagined.

The south wind is much milder than the north wind, and Chen Mu has kept the sailors on the boat busy picking up ropes for several days since setting sail.

He asked the ship in front to fasten the big knots of the rope, and used a tape measure to measure out a two-mile-long rope wrapped in an empty pickle jar and floated in the sea. out of their speed.

It wasn't exact, but it gave him an estimate in his mind.

Their speed is nearly 24 miles per hour, and the speed is a little over four knots per hour by Western standards. This speed is particularly rare in the case of small headwinds and large fleets.If it weren't for the headwind that made them have to change their course to maintain their speed, even with a slight tailwind, it would only take six or seven days to sail from Hong Kong to Manila.

But they apparently took nearly half a month this time.

There are three problems that Westerners need to worry about when sailing to sea, sea battle, shipwreck, and scurvy; while Chinese people only need to worry about the first two problems when they go to sea, and scurvy does not exist.

In fact, it was a mistake. Although the Chinese pickles will destroy a certain degree of vitamins, they can still retain some of them. Even a tiny bit can save lives. On the other hand, the Chinese have tea.

The tea that Chen Shuai went to Nanyang was exclusively sponsored by his brother-in-law Yang Yinglong. The 120-person expeditionary force was allocated four taels of green tea per month, and [-] dans of tea a year. Considering the subsequent war situation, Chen Mu asked Yang Yinglong for [-] dans of tea a year. .

It's not free, of course Chen Mu won't give money, but if he wins this battle, he will pull Yang out next.

So Chen Shuai didn't worry about anything, he only cared about the supply line and the coming typhoon season.

Because of the typhoon, he chose to attack Manila in June.

Manila is a good place. Almost all typhoons will affect Luzon, and the typhoon season is from May to October. No one can say when it will come. Therefore, at this time, Spanish ships will rush to leave the port, whether they are going to Japan or Mexico, most of their ships will not stay in Manila.

Even what he said in May, it is normal to be imagined as five months.

This is when the enemy is weakest, and they have always been so strong.

"The situation is not good..."

Outside the general's room in the stern building of the Chihai, Chen Mu frowned slightly while leaning on the aisle railing. Zhao Shizhen, Ni Shangzhong and others who were standing around were puzzled. Xu Wei asked, "Why did the general say that?"

"This is the first Clark captured and handed over to Mr. Chen?"

Following the direction that Chen Mu raised his finger, not far from them, a formation of shark ships was dragging two Clark sailboats with broken masts to the opposite direction. They were the ships they captured and handed them over to Chen Mu behind. Lin sent a lucky boat to tow them, and after they arrived in Manila, they unloaded their baggage, and then sent a fleet back to Nanyang Port.

"The closer you are to Luzon, the easier it is for you to encounter Xiyi ships. Whether it's merchant ships or pirates, there are no less than ten large ships alone. If you encounter a small ship, half of them will be sunk. It's hard to escape. But Clark, when he met Capture one of them, capture two of them, capture a dozen of them, and sink only one."

Chen Mu frowned and shook his head slowly.

"It's not good."

Those who can serve as the head of the army or the staff of the Chihai are all smart people, and no one can't understand, and each one changes color after Chen Mu's words.

Zhao Shizhen narrowed his eyelids slightly, and said: "The general is saying that our ship cannon can't damage their ship?"

"It's not that it can't be damaged, but that General Zhenshuo can't penetrate its waterline. You can see that the captured Clark's forecastle and stern tower still has a mast, which seems to have been hacked with an axe; the hull was smashed to pieces and leaked everywhere. But it won’t work if you go any further.” The sea was sunny and sunny, and Chen Mu still felt dissatisfied: “Clark is not the biggest ship in Xiyi.”

During the Southern Expedition, Chen Mu understood why the Western warships and artillery developed rapidly during this period of time, while the Ming Dynasty regressed instead of making progress.

Naval battles are not land battles. On land, there are sufficient terrain and various weapons and arms to allow generals to display their outstanding talents.But naval battles are different. Although they also need to deploy troops and generals, they also need excellent generals, but the ship is the same ship, and the gun is the same gun. Although the result of the battle is not absolute, it has increased decisiveness to a certain extent.

Can the ten great blessing ships fully loaded with soldiers win the Red Sea?

Maybe, maybe not.

But it is absolutely impossible for a Fuchuan to defeat Chihai.

What was the first thought in Chen Mu's head when he found that the small shark ship and even the general Zhenshuo's guns on the five hundred material shark ship could not penetrate the waterline of the Clark sailboat?
He wants bigger ships and bigger cannons to equip the army. There is demand first and then there is development.

"Chen Jianjun, if the subsequent sea battle requires Chihai artillery battle, please stay in the cabin and don't go on the deck."

After Chen Mu finished speaking, Chen Ju was stopped by him before he could speak, and said, "I know you don't like it, what's the matter with the supervising army in the cabin, I also know that you are not afraid of death, but Chen is afraid of your death - next Conquests in the ocean are different from those in the north, so you can't afford to lose, the two wives of Mr. Chen are still in Nanyang!"

He planned to take his wife over after Manila was liberated, so as not to affect him due to future changes in the government.

"It's the same for you guys. You will arrive in Luzon in a few days. When you land, Chihai will definitely go to bomb the fort. By then, everyone will stay in the cabin except Junxiong."

Chen Mu's eyes swept over Ni Shangzhong, Ma Gui, Xu Wei and others. These guys are all treasures collected by him, so there must be no mistakes.

At this moment, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a centipede ship breaking away from the fleet and approaching quickly.The earliest main warship under Chen Mu has now become a communication ship to communicate with the fleets of various armies, using its unparalleled speed at sea to convey orders between the various fleets.

When Chen Mu saw this ship, he knew that something had happened up front.

And it seems that the centipede ship came quickly and quickly, a big deal.

"Put the boat to pick people up."

The sailor of the centipede boat steered the oars at a very fast speed. After a while, a messenger boarded the ship, ran quickly across the wide deck, and reported loudly from the poop: "Report to the commander, Shi Qianhu and Huang Qianhu encountered the Xiyi fleet. , there is a big ship!"

"Big ship?" Shi Qi and Huang Dexiang had two fleets of twelve ships, a mere big ship had to be so panic-stricken, "What kind of big ship, how many ships are there in total?"

"More than ten ships, seven small boats, three gunboats, two large merchant ships, and one large ship...bigger than General Chihai! Shi Qianhu asked the commander to send General Deng's boat to help!"

Bigger than Chihai!
Chen Mu stared and asked, "The enemy ship was intercepted while sailing east?"

After getting an affirmative answer, Chen Mu took a deep breath and punched the railing. This was not catching a big fish, but a giant sea monster!
Three caravelles, two old clarks, and one, probably a Galenic ship with a letter beginning with a holy letter.

From Manila to the east in June, the Spanish royal family had full authority to trade routes. Chen Mu already knew what he encountered.

A Spanish treasure fleet from Manila to Mexico, commonly known as the Manila Galleon.

"Order the whole army to continue sailing and slow down the speed; tell Deng Wuqiao to let him come with me, the two escort fleets will follow, Chihai will turn the rudder, beat the drums and the whole ship is ready for artillery battle, centipede ship!"

Chen Mu clapped his hands and slammed them on the railing, "Let's go find them!"

(End of this chapter)